High pressure pump valves



May 14, 1957 R. K. SHELLMAN ET AL HIGH PRESSURE PUMP VALVES Filed Sept.17, 1954 IN VEN TORS. 5/7 54 L Mfl/V,

H LEO THEES 4rraeA/sy.

Ray K Canes/v65 7% HIGH 1 PRESSUREi PUMP. VALVES Roy K.-Sli ellinan,.Compton, and Clarence H. Leathers,

Redondo Beach, Calif., assignors to MacClatchie Manufacturmgfiompany;Compton, Calif., a corporation of California Application september 17,1954, Serial No.- 456,756 9 Claims. (Cl. 137-516.)

This'invention'has to .do generally with improvements inmud pumpjvalves,and has for its general purpose the provision of. an improved valve inwhich an elastomer guide-andisealing structure is provided, the functionof whichis 'tom'inimizeabrasive wear between valve components andthereby to materially extend the useful life of the valve.

Past' experience with mud pump valves has shown theirsusceptibility'to'wear due to the detrimental abrasive action of drilling mud flowinginand about the metallic valve seating and guide surfaces. Large abrasiveparticles in the mud becomingentrapped between metallic valveseatingrand guide surfaces during closing of the valve act'to'score' andpit'these surfaces .in proportion to the size ofthe abrasive particlesas related to the clearances between the moving metal surfaces. Inaddihen; the high valve closing pressures squeeze theabrasiveparticles.'into the metal surface as the latter cometogetheror'slidei relative to one another, resulting in excessive valvewear and proportionately decreased valve life.

The present invention is predicated on the concept of materiallyreducing mud pump valve wear through the provision of natural orsynthetic rubber valve sealing and guide means designed to tolerate,without undesirable wear,th'e presence of'abrasive particles. It isproposed in'accordancewith the invention to combine in the valve rubber'guides'and' rubber sealing means leaving substantially reduced metalareafor contact with the valve seat.

The rubber'guide means preferably comprises several fingersdepjen'di'ng' from'a rubber body carried by themetal valve, thefingersprojecting into a portenclosed'by'the valve seat and in .closebut spaced proximity to the metal wallof.th'eiport' to act as guidesforvalve movement. The fingersare shaped soasv to provide spaced mudflow passageshaving maximum area and to accommodate the presence ofabrasive mud particles'to prevent scoring of the portwall.

The rubberguide'means ispreferably combined with the rubber sealingmeans in the valve assembly in order to maximize the tolerationof thevalve to" abrasive wear. 1n accordance'.with.this.concept, the rubbersealing means operatesin conjunction with therubber fingersioaccommodateabrasive particles trapped between the metal valve'seatand the sealingmeans.- Inaddition', by;virtue of the fact that the rubber sealingrneansis positioned outwardlyrofnthe -metal .valve. shoulder. and is supportedby meta'lTvalvestr-ucwre itisenabledfito bearia certain proportion ofthe valve loading or closing of the valve, and thereby to somewhatreduce the large pressures exerted by the rigid shoulder on the valveseat and to reduce abrasive scoring between those elements.

All the various features and objects of the invention, as well as thedetails of several typical and illustrative embodiments, will be morefully understood from the following detailed description of theaccompanying drawing, in which:

United States FatentO Fig. 1 is'a viewshowing themud' pump valve insection;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2'of Fig; 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a view taken'on line P4 of Fig. 3 and looking-at the bottom"side of the valve; and

Fig.5 is across-sectional view of still another embodiment of theinvention.

In Fig.1 of the drawing numeral 10 designatesa valve assembly includingvalve stem 11, threaded shank 12and a lower section 13; Joined to thethreaded shank is a threaded cap 14; which tightly engages shoulder 15formed on"lowersection 13. A metal flange 16 is integrally catedbydotted'lines 18'which define web sections joining lower section'13'with the flange 16. Supported between flange'16' and cap14 is .a rubberbody 19 which includes an. annular valvesealingjshoulder 20 lyingadjacent the outeredge'offla'nge 16 .and. being sloped similarly to'rigidshoulder 17. Body 19' carries four rubberfingers 22, 23, 24, andwhich project down through the apertures 'formedin the flange. Thespaces between the fingers definepassages through which viscous mudflows when the valveisopen. Outer edges v26 of the fingers extend.parallel with and in closeproximity to the cylindrical inner wall 27 ofannular valve seat 28, Wall 27 generally defining a valve port '29. Theupper surface 30 ofthe valveseat 23is' conically tapered to provide avalve seating surface of a shape accommodating the shoulders 17 and.20when the valve is closed.

It will be understood that the fingers act as valve guide members, anduponaxial movement of the valve to'open or close port 29"one or more ofthe fingers may come into cushioned engagement with port wall 27 toprevent lateral displacement of the'valve with respect to the valve seat28'. It will also be 'notedthat each of the fingers is tapered towardits free end and toward the port wall to define finger sections ofdecreasing width and area proceeding toward the 'endof each finger. Thisconstruction 'providespassages between th'efin'gers of maximum 7 to thatshown in Fig; l, and'simila'r components are given the/same numbers.

It will b'e'noted, however, that the rubber fingers are joined to. asecond'rubber'body '31 which'is'disc shapedand attachedto the undersideof the rigid'fiange32. As shown in the drawing, the second rubberb'bdy'may be moldedto thedove-tailed annular groove 33 formed "in the'flange '32.-

Thevalv'e assembly" shown'inFig. 3 includes a stem 34'on' which isformed a shoulder '35which engages a cap 36% The lower end '37 of thestem is threaded to receive a nut 38and'washer 39; which'retain a rubberbody 40 between'the cap'and thewasher. Fingers 41, 42, 43, and'44extenddownward from body 40 in'close proximity to the*wall.f "of the"valve seaf'46: Body '40 includes a flange portion 47 in" which ismolded "am'etal ring '48," the ring being apertured to provide alternatemetal and rubber webs 49 and 50 spaced around the ring. The uppersurface of the ring engages the lower surface of cap 36 to give rigidsupport to the ring. The lower surface of the ring is annularly taperedto provide a rigid shoulder 51 for engagement with the dished valveseating surface 52 of valve seat 46. Shoulder 53 of rubber flange 47 isalso tapered for cushioned engagement with valve seating surface 52, andit will be noted that shoulder 53 extends slightly below rigid shoulder51 to provide for cushioned sealing of the valve as it comes intoengagement with the valve seat. Although this construction is not shownin Figs. 1 and 5, it will be understood that rubber shoulder of thosefigures likewise extends slightly below rigid shoulder 17 for the samereason.

In operation when the valve is withdrawn from the valve seat, mud flowsthrough the valve and through the spaces between the rubber guidefingers projecting into the valve port. When the valve is moved towardthe valve seat to close off mud flow, the guide fingers 22, 23, 24 and25 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 preclude lateral displacement of the valvewith respect to the valve seat, and in so doing any particles of sand orother abrasive material trapped between the fingers and the port wall 27are prevented from scoring the metal wall since the portions of thefingers engaging the particles deflect and in efiect house the particlesduring movement of the valve. As the valve comes into engagement withthe valve seat, the rubber shoulder 20 engages the rigid seating surface30, cushioning the closing of the valve and sealing it. Any particles ofabrasive material caught between sealing shoulder 20 and metal sealingsurface 30 are pre eluded from scoring the latter surface by compressivedeflection of those portions of the rubber shoulder 20 contacting theparticles. In addition, the rubber shoulder absorbs a certain proportionof the overall load by virtue of the fact that it is positionedoutwardly from the metal valve shoulder 17 and consequently has a largeload bearing area of contact with the valve seat surface.

Complete closing of the valve brings rigid shoulder 17 into contact withseat surface 30, the force of contact between these elements comprisingthe major proportion of the load transferred. However, abrasive particlescoring of these surfaces is reduced somewhat, to the extent that valveloading is absorbed through the rubber shoulder 20.

We claim:

1. In a mud pump valve adapted to close against a seat annularlysurrounding a port, the combination comprising metallic supportstructure including a central element for supporting the valve, backingmeans carried by said element and a member disposed concentrically ofsaid element and opposite said means in load transferring relation tosaid structure, said member containing an aperture and having an annularengagement surface for closing against said seat, and rubber body meanscarried by said structure, said rubber means filling said aperture andextending on opposite sides of said member relative to said surface toform an annular rubber seal disposed concentrically of said surface forengagement with said seat and rubber guide fingers depending from saidstructure for movement within said port in proximate relation to thewall thereof.

2. In a mud pump valve adapted to close against a seat annularlysurrounding a port, the combination comprising metallic supportstructure including a central element for supporting the valve, backingmeans carried by said element and a member disposed concentrically ofsaid element and opposite said means in load transferring relation tosaid structure, said member containing an aperture and having an annularengagement surface for closing against said seat, and rubber body meanscarried by said structure concentrically of said element, said rubbermeans filling said aperture and extending on opposite sides of saidmember relative to said surface to form an annular rubber seal disposedconcentrically of said surface for engagement with said seat and rubberguide fingers depending from said structure for movement within saidport in proximate relation to the wall thereof.

3. In a mud pump valve adapted to close against a seat annularlysurrounding a port, the combination comprising metallic supportstructure including a central element for supporting the valve, backingmeans carried by said element and a member disposed concentrically ofsaid element and opposite said means in load transferring relation tosaid structure, said member containing an aperture and having an annularengagement surface for closing against said seat, and rubber body meanscarried by said structure, said rubber means filling said aperture andextending on opposite sides of said member relative to said surface toform an annular rubber seal disposed concentrically of said surface forengagement with said seat and rubber guide fingers depending from saidstructure inwardly of said surface for movement within said port inproximate relation to the wall thereof.

4. In a mud pump valve adapted to close against a seat annularlysurrounding a port, the combination comprising metallic supportstructure including a central ele ment for supporting the valve, aflange carried by said element extending radially therefrom and anannularly extending apertured member disposed concentrically of saidelement opposite said flange and having load transferring connectionwith said structure, said member having opposite sides and an annularengagement surface between said sides for closing against said seat, andrubber body means carried by said structure concentrically of saidelement, said means filling said aperture and extending on said oppositesides of said member relative to said surface to form an annular rubberseal disposed concentrically of said surface for engagement with saidseat and rubber guide fingers depending from said structure for movementwithin said port in proximate relation to the wall thereof.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4 in which said member comprises asecond flange formed integrally with said element.

6. The invention as defined in claim 5 comprising a plurality ofannularly spaced apertures extending through a portion of said secondflange between said engagement surface and said element and throughwhich extend continuations of said fingers.

7. The invention as defined in claim 5 comprising an annular apertureformed in the side of said flange facing said fingers and filled by aring-shaped portion of said rubber means opposite said fingers.

8. The invention as defined in claim 4 in which said member comprises aring carried by said rubber body means and abutting said flange.

9. The invention as defined in claim 8 comprising a plurality ofannularly spaced apertures extending through said ring and filled bysaid rubber means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,725,297 Paterson Aug. 20, 1929 2,178,876 MacClatchie Nov. 7, 19392,436,035 Cheiten Feb. 17, 1948 2,521,314 Therolf Sept. 5, 19502,544,498 Hiertz Mar. 6, 1951 2,613,054 Maier Oct. 7, 1952

